CSU Budget Process
Chancellor’s E-Mail Communication of February 6, 2001:
“The budget process in Sacramento begins with the Governor’s budget submission to the legislature in January. The Legislative Analyst’s Office then prepares an analysis of the governor’s January budget submission for the legislature. Next, the Assembly and Senate committees and subcommittees schedule hearings on the various pieces of the governor’s budget request and any unresolved issues identified by the Legislative Analyst. Members of the legislature also are provided an opportunity during committee and subcommittee hearings to offer their own requests for budget consideration.
In May, the governor submits a revised budget request based on the April forecast of state revenues (known as the “May Revision” or “May Revise”). Following completion of hearings and votes in each chamber, the legislature passes a budget bill for the governor’s signature. The governor is set to approve the budget by July 1 of each year.
The CSU becomes involved in the state budget process in October—three months prior to the governor’s January budget submission—when the Board of Trustees approves a budget plan for the fiscal year. The chancellor is authorized to make changes to the trustees’ budget based on campus enrollment information from fall census data and any specific request from the Department of Finance in preparation of the governor’s budget request.
The governor develops the CSU portion of the state budget request on the basis of the higher education partnership agreement for the CSU and the University of California. This agreement specifies a base level of funding increase for enrollment growth, CSU operating support, long-term budget need and state mandatory costs for annuitants’ dental benefits and lease bond payments for the fiscal year. The governor also considers any additional funding requests in the trustees’ budget above the budget parameters established by the partnership agreement.
After the governor’s budget is submitted to the legislature, the chancellor is asked to present the trustees’ budget at Senate and Assembly overview hearings. The CSU also is asked to respond to specific budget items identified in the Legislative Analyst’s analysis of the governor’s budget, as well as defend the governor’s and trustees’ budget proposals at committee and subcommittee hearings.
In addition, CSU is requested to submit any budget items that require consideration for the governor’s May budget revision. In making such a request, the CSU works in consultation with its Board of Trustees to develop a list of priorities for additional funding. Those priorities are conveyed in a formal letter to the director of the Department of Finance. As the budget advances through the subcommittee process, these priorities are shared with the members of the budget committees in each house, and with the appropriate legislative and administration staff.
Prior to passage of the trustees’ budget plan in October, the Chancellor develops a systemwide budget strategy based on the projection of CSU revenue increase from the higher education partnership and budget issues and concerns raised by CSU constituency groups. This process begins with the May meeting of the System Budget Advisory Committee and continues through the September meeting of the Board of Trustees.
Thus, the state budget process for the CSU essentially has a year-round timeframe that begins in May and concludes in July of the following year.”
